This research examines the persuasive impact of different types of emotional appeals on members of collective versus individualist cultures. The results of two experiments demonstrated that ego-focused (e.g., pride, happiness) versus other-focused (e.g., empathy, peacefulness) emotional appeals led to more favorable attitudes for members of a collectivist culture, while other-focused versus ego-focused emotional appeals led to more favorable attitudes for members of an individualist culture. Experiement 2 was conducted to examine the psychological mechanism underlying these effects. The results indicated that the generation and elaboration on a relatively novel type of thought (individual thoughts for collectivists, collective thoughts for individualists) accounts for the persuasive effects found in this research. These results are interpreted within an Ability-Motivation framework, and theoretical implications involving cross-cultural persuasion effects are discussed.